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MORRIS MATTSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.'

Letters Patent No. 67,663, dated August 13, 1867.

CUPPING APPARATUS.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, Monats MATrsoN, of the city of New York, in the county of NewYork, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in Vacuum-Cups for medical purposes; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact dcscription thereof, and of its mode o'r manner of operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and making a part of this specification. i

My invention consists in an improved construction of vacuum-cup, by which it can be applied and used with greater convenience and with greater ease to the patient than is possible with Vthose heretofore used.

My improved vacuum-cups are designed for dry or wet cupping, but chieily the former, without any reference to the abstraction of blood by scariiication. v In dry cupping, the blood and other uids areattracted into the vessels immediately within or under the cup, in a large quantity, in consequence of the partial vacuum which has been produced in the cup; and in various diseases, as those of the spinal cord and other parts of the body, this mode of practice is much esteemed by some physicians.

Figure 1 is a general representation of the cup and the apparatus atiached thereto to produce a vacuum.

Figure 2 is a vertical section, g', iig. 1.

Figure 3 illustrates another manner of connecting the cup with the exhausting-apparatus.

The cup A may be of any desirable size, varying from an inch to four or five inches in diameter, according to the surface of the body to which it is to be applied. In cupping theabdominal regin, for instance, a cup of the larger diameter just indicated may be conveniently and efticiently used. Along the'spine, on the extremities, and upon the chest, excepting the femalei'mammal, smaller cups will be required, in consequence o f the inequalities of the surface to which they are applied.

Cupping was originally performed by holding the cupping-glass for an instant over the dame of a spiritlamp, and immediately placing it upon the skin, with the result of causing the skin within the glass to swell or put up, from the rapid ingress of the blood, tc., into the vessels, just 4in proportion to the rarefaction of the air by means of the spirit-lamp. As an improvement upon this method, elastic bulbs were attached to the smaller cupping-glasses for the purpose of producing the requisite vacuum; but no arrangement of valves in connection witht the elastic bulbs, for the purpose of exhausting the air from a large or small cup by the pumping process, has been devised, so far as I am aware. Another improvement, so far as the larger cups are concerned, consists in the adaptation to the cup o f a piston-pump or exhausting-syringe, by which the air is readilyabstracted from the cup and the requisite vacuum produced; but the pump is liable toV get out of order, and in working the piston the individual or operator must of necessity make more or less pressure upon the cup, which is objectionable in case of any tenderness or instability ofthe part to which the cup is applied.

My improvement consists in the adaptation to and combination with the cup of an elastic bulb, with suitable valvular arrangements whereby the air can be readily pumped or abstracted from a cup of the largest size, and by an easy, convenient, and attractive method.

The bulb B is fitted in its metallic connections a and b, with suitable valves 1 2, which act like those in an ordinary air-pump, exhausting the air from the cup A as the elastic bulb is compressed and expands.l The bulb is more pleasant to handle than a pump made of'brass or other metal or materia-l, and may be rapidly: contracted and expanded without making any pressure upon the cup, and thus avoiding all or nearly all pain or suffering in case of any soreness or irritability of the part to which the cup is applied. A bulb with a.

double neck, such us is in common use for elastic syringes, will answer the purpose very well; but I prefer a bulb, such as is represented in the drawings, andwhich is described and patented in Letters Patent granted to me November 19, 1861, and reissued October 18, 1864, and which, unlike the ordinary double-neck bulb, will remain free from leakage at the points to which the metal couplings are attached. This I deem a matter of very great importance. In connection with s'uch elastic bulb, the valves which I prefer to use, as working with greater ease and precision, are those cut with a punch out of oiled silk, a thin sheet of rubber, or other equivalent material, and so arranged as to float loosely in the cavity, seen iniig. 2, opposite or against the figures 1 2, in which they are placed, in conformity with Letters Patent issued to me dated April 4, 1854. Such valve is shown more fully in g. 4, and consists of a small disk, g, of rubber, oiled silk, or similar material,

the diameter of which is alittle less in diameter than the chamber 'in which it floats. Above such vtlvc, and connected with thc lower end ofthe part 72, is n. valvejsttt, 7c, ot' :t diameter about the some :1s the valve, and connecting with the pzrt 7L by a short tube, through the sides of which rire pcrforat'ions Z. By the .action or expansion of the bulb B the valve g is drawn up against rthe' bottom of the valve-seat c, and the nir from the cup Av passes up around the edges of Such vrtlvcscz1t, and through the perforations Z into the bulb. Then the bulb is compressed, the valve g is forced down against its seat in the bottom ofthe chamber, closing the entrance into the cup A, and forcingr the nir out through the vulve in the upper end of the bulb. A vent-hole in the metallic connection just above the cup, which may be opened or closed by :t screw, C, or in vany convenient and effective manner, is very e nvenient in favoring the ready detachment of the cup after it has been applied a sulicent length of time. 4

By constructing the metallic connection intervening between the cup and the exhausting-bulb with :t slip-joint, cl d', as shown in fig. 3, a. series of cups of the snmller vsize may bc rapidly applied, with the use of only one exhausting-bulb; that is, when one cup is exhausted, the bulb nifty be readily detached by mcnns of the Slip-joints, leaving the cup tightly in contact with the body, und the bulb bc then attached to :mother cup, which is applied in turn; and thus any number of cups muy bc appliedA in o similar manner. In such cases VVor for such uses such o. slip-joint is superior to u screw, :Ls shown ntf, Hg. 2, which would require too much time `in unscrewing the bulb from the cup.

What I clnim es nry invention, and desire to'secure by Letters Patent, isv The combination -with any suitable cup or vessel A, ndztpted for cupping and similar purposes, of an elastic exhausting-bulb, B, provided or fitted with a. valvular -apparatus, constructed substantially on described, and on the principle described in Letters Potent grunted to me April 4, 1854.

M. MATTSON.

Witnesses:

'S. D. LAW,

FRED. B. SEARS. 

